In Going Postal, they had those Post Humous professors in the Wizards' Pantry. Is there supposed to be a stealth pun hiding in there? Because I don't get it.

I have to admit that I have no idea about that one. I think - and maybe someone here can confirm, that a Jar Wizard is something to do with computers.

I agree that there's probably a joke in there somewhere.

I've got Going Postal here but I haven't read it in years. I'm intrigued now, so I'll definitely re-read it to see if I can find a better explanation, but the first thing that comes to mind when you're thinking about "something to do with computers" is an installation wizard. There's also a Java package called "Wizard" apparently, and when you compile Java programs the result is a ".jar" file. No idea what the "knitting" has to do with it. I'll re-read it, have been wanting to anyway, and who knows I might find something

Terry Pratchett in Hogfather wrote:Hex had been recalcitrant about its calculations, when it had got into a mechanical sulk and had started writing things like'+++ Out of Cheese Error +++'and'+++ Redo From Start +++'

Terry Pratchett in Science of Discworld wrote:The Archchancellor picked up HEX's latest write-out. It read:+++ Out Of Cheese Error +++'Not helpful,' he muttered.

Yes I'm sad that way ....

Some parallels with computer programming on roundworld:- Out of Cheese Error -> Out of memory error- Divide by Cucumber Error -> Divide by zero error- Hi Mum is Testing -> Hello World, I think. (Hello World is a basic program that outputs nothing but the text "Hello World!" and most programming language tutorials start with that.)- Redo From Start I think comes from the first computers, where your programs were actually cards with holes punched in them and you would spend days writing (punching) a program and then handing it to the operator who would feed it to the machine. More often than not, your program was incorrect and you would have to start over: redo from start. There was no debugging yet, so you would have to repeat this process, each time encountering the next error, until the program was correct.- MELON MELON MELON -> I can't find synonyms for the word melon, but I think it's a kernel panic. Under Windows known as a Blue Screen of Death. Often abbreviated to BSOD, all-caps.

Tonyblack wrote: (quoting Jane but the system won't let me nest that many quotes) "Question: What is with those knitted wizards in jars? In Going Postal, they had those Post Humous professors in the Wizards' Pantry. Is there supposed to be a stealth pun hiding in there? Because I don't get it. "

I have to admit that I have no idea about that one. I think - and maybe someone here can confirm, that a Jar Wizard is something to do with computers. I agree that there's probably a joke in there somewhere.

...the first thing that comes to mind when you're thinking about "something to do with computers" is an installation wizard. There's also a Java package called "Wizard" apparently, and when you compile Java programs the result is a ".jar" file. No idea what the "knitting" has to do with it.

Thanks for the computer angle, I had no idea. About the knitting: believe it or not, in the USA some years ago there was a fad for tiny knitted dolls squished into glass jars, dressed in various costumes - housekeeper, businessman, wizard.... It wasn't as popular as the pet rock, but it lasted for a while.

Now that I'm rereading Going Postal, I'm running into the same trouble I always have when dialogues are muffled and the written text becomes garbled: I seem to be unable to figure out the original sentences.

In Going Postal, Corgi Books paperback (not sure if that narrows it down enough) page 116 there's a dialogue between Moist and the owner of barbershop Hugo's through a speaking tube:

A voice in his ear, faint as a spider trapped in a matchbox, said: 'Scitich wabble nabnab?'

'So kind of you to assist us, Hugo. It's these missing letters. Five missing letters, to be exact'

'Scrik? Shabadatwik? Scritch vit bottofix!'

He heard the muffled expletive though the floor. Via the speaking tube it became 'Vugrs nickbibble!'

I'm not sure there's any help to give. This is the equivalent to hearing a one-sided conversation someone is having on a mobile phone. It's not so much what Hugo says as what Moist says - and in particular him pointing out Mr Pump outside.

It seems to me that Hugo very quickly realises that he's either going to hand the letters over nicely or Mr Pump will take them - along with half his shop, one imagines.

“Men never commit evil so fully and joyfully as when they do it for religious convictions.” – Blaise Pascal